Automated electronic contract management information processing systems that are computer based have been in use since the 1980s. These systems have been somewhat successful in reducing many of the manual steps involved in processing invoice orders and tracking product order data. Product manufacturers use such systems to process product order data referred to as “sales tracings data” on invoices (product order statements associated with the purchased product) in order to verify, repair and/or pay a claim for payment due wholesalers or distributors under such contracts. Particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, market forces and competition have prompted manufacturers to vary product pricing via regularly changing pricing contracts that provide special product pricing to vendors for fixed periods of time. Typically, a manufacturer establishes a contractural arrangement with vendors (wholesalers or distributors) who electronically order product at predetermined pricing. Vendors may qualify to receive a rebate on product sold under certain circumstances or conditions, e.g. volume discounts or due to market pricing changes that have taken place since the vendor last ordered product that is currently maintained in the vendor's inventory. In order to receive the rebates the vendors must submit “sales tracings data” to the manufacturers as proof of sales of the product, by the vendor, to an eligible customer within the contract time window. The sales tracings data provides confirmation that purchase orders or invoices have been or will be presented to the manufacturer. Upon processing the sales tracings data, the manufacturer will then process the invoice level data with the objective of sending a rebate payment to the vendor responsible for the invoice or crediting that vendors account in the amount of the rebate. The manufacturer will then issue a rebate to the vendor that sourced the invoice by creating a corresponding accounts receivable/payable entry in its accounting system reflecting a rebate amount attributable to that particular invoice that will be paid or credited to the vendor. Computer programs track each payment entry at the “invoice line item” detail level so that a full audit trail can be recreated, on demand, regarding a particular vendor and its associated invoiced product sales quantities, purchaser, and dates for each invoiced sales transaction.
These systems have been somewhat successful in reducing many of the manual steps involved in managing order data and associated accounting information. However, none of them have been able to address the cumbersome process of repairing invalid data in sales tracings on invoices. The present manner in which sales tracings are repaired involves editing electronic invoice line entries one at a time. The manual sales tracings repair process takes up to 80% of a contract administrator's time spent processing (collecting, verifying, repairing and reconciling) sales tracings. All of the presently available electronic contract management systems on the market today require that the contract administrator review invalid sales tracings invoices using this “one line at a time” correction method. When performing the “one line at a time” correction method the contract administrator is reviewing each error detected by the contract management system. Each error has to be researched by the contract administrator prior to correction thereof. Such research requires the contract administrator lookup contract information in order to determine the proper solution/data to repair the incorrect data identified in the sales tracings data.
Below is a list of the more common errors that a contract administrator is required to address and correct:                Contract Number/ID: Is the contract number/ID missing or incorrect?        Contract Date: Has the contract expired or is it not yet in force?        Invoice Number: Is the invoice number missing or incorrect?        Invoice Date: Is the invoice date missing or invalid?        Customer's Eligibility on the Contract: Is the customer covered under the contract, expired or not yet eligible?        Customer's ID number: Is the customer's ID number missing or invalid?        Drug's Eligibility: Is the drug covered, expired, or not yet eligible under the contract        Drug Identifier/NDC: Is the drug identifier missing or incorrect?        Wholesaler's Eligibility: Is the wholesaler covered, expired, or not yet eligible under the contract?        Drug Quantity: Is the quantity invalid or missing?        Contract Price: Is the contract price missing or incorrect?        WAC (wholesale acquisition cost) Price: Is the WAC price missing or incorrect?        Credit Claimed: Is the credit claimed correct?        Chargeback Duplicate: Has the chargeback (rebate) request been previously submitted?        
An automated computer system, or method, that is designed to automatically determine and recommend potential corrections to such errors as described above, as well as addressing other errors, and that reduces or minimizes the burden borne by the contract administrator to research and correct such erroneous data is thus needed.